Decisions, Decisions
by N-I-N-T
Summary: Claire made a casual decision to return to college and become normal again. What she didn't know was that the Nightmares would still plague her like a sickness. Can someone reach her before she makes the worst decision of her life? Content based before release of RE 6, changes may apply. SherryxJake, ChrisxJill ClairexLeon
1. Chapter 1

**Update: Oct/20**

I need to clear up a few things that FormVI brought to my attention:

Claire is 31, she was 19 in Raccoon city. It's been 12 years. 1998+12 = 2010. This starts in 2010; it will eventually lead up to 2013. Thus, JakexSherryLeon is still watching the president's daughter because I assumed that Graham was reelected even after 2004; there was a gap between RE4 and RE6, and it never said otherwise. Elections are in the first Quarter of 2013, or maybe 2012, because of how fluked the Resident evil time line is. Either way, RE6 takes place in June 2013. There's enough of a space to have Leon get a new job, etc. That'll be written about later.Ashley's still in school because a masters can take 6-10 years; I also assume she took a few years off to relax after she got kidnaped.Claire got fired from Terra Save; which is why she's going back to college in the first place. Nowhere, in any of the games/movies/books does it say that Claire has a degree.

Some of this information is mentioned in Chapter 3, and was going to be mentioned progressively. But I don't want people confused at the start. ;)

_Deciding_ has always been the first instinct.

"I guess this has to go..." A Ms. Claire Redfield stood awkwardly next to her open dresser. She bit her lower lip while she stared at a six round revolver in her hand. Sweat worked its way between her eyebrows, and she retraced thoughts in her head again. To be normal, she couldn't carry a gun. To be normal, she was not allowed to go off on tangents revolving around zombies. To be normal, she could not jump and attempt to attack any other _normal _living creatures under any condition unless they were foaming at the mouth or undead.

To be normal, she could _not _bring a _gun_ to school with her.

A lump formed in her throat, and she looked from her open dresser, to the gun clasped tightly in her hand, and back again to the dresser. The gun had to go.

_Slam!_

She smashed the gun into the dresser and closed the drawer. Claire had to do it, moving on required effort.

"This isn't that bad...not bad at all." She complimented herself and smiled, attempting to un-furrow her eyebrows. She moved away from the dresser, a grin trying to tug at her lips. "I'll just grab my bag, and be on my way. What's the worst that could happen...? It's just college..." She mumbled to herself while walking out of her room. Shuffling of clothes was heard from beyond the door, and then the stammering of feet back into the room.

She ripped open the dresser and stashed the gun into her bag as quick as possible.

"What's a girl without defense..." She courted, trying to justify the means of bringing a gun. She was just too attached to leave it lie in her dresser.

The sweat running down her face made a streak of black from her eyeliner to the center of her cheek. Her foundation was ruined already. The youngest Redfield let out a loud sigh and leaned against her dresser.

"What am I doing? I can't take a GUN to school! What if they check our bags?" She screamed at herself, pulling the gun from her bag once again and placing it into her dresser; positive that she'd leave without it. No way would she touch the gun again. It would stay stashed in her drawer, not again touched until she returned home at five.

She stopped at the exit of her bedroom.

"Damn it."

A few moments later she was outside, putting a hand over her eyes in attempt to block the morning sun from blinding her. The Redfield took in a breath of fresh air, and then exhaled, grumbling about having no resolution of her none-existent will. Regardless of her ownadvice; the gun tagged along for the ride around town. Claire dug in her bag for sunglasses, and took a pair out right when her foot stepped on the stairs. She lived on the upper-floor apartments. The apartment door behind her opened. She cursed under her breath.

"Claire! Good morning!" A voice chirped. Claire saw an old man in his robe waving happily at her, a goofy grin plastered on his face. He had in his hand a cup of steaming liquid, which Claire assumed was coffee from the brown color that coated his teeth. Under his arm was a newspaper dated "Daily Times" A picture of a girl was in front of it, but before she could see the entire thing, he rolled it up and started walking toward her.

"Good morning Mr. Hailaway." Claire replied politely, already halfway down the stairs with keys in her hands, she was inching closer to the parking lot.

"Enough with formalities..." He shrugged with blood rushing to his cheeks. "Travis, call me Travis."

"Sure thing Mr. Hailaway!" She shouted back waving her arm while finishing off the stairs. Above her head she heard Travis's door shut after a grumble. She sighed, knowing she was being rude.

"Darn it." She mumbled while looking at the keys in her hand. "I should be more polite.. He did just lose his wife..." She spotted her motorcycle in the parking lot, and started toward it.

Nearly two months ago when Claire first arrived at this apartment, Travis Hailaway and his wife were everything but happy with her as their new neighbor. The apartment Claire was living in had been empty for the past three years, so they didn't like the idea of getting someone "young" like her in there.

Claire shook her head, not sure how it was never rented out in the first place. There were two bedrooms, a separated kitchen and living room, and a fairly large bathroom. It had a balcony with a view, and was in a good neighborhood. If her brother Chris said it was a good place when he was helping her move in; then it had to have been. Plus he was helping pay her rent, so the four-hundred dollars monthly probably helped with the decision.

Claire walked past Hailaway's truck while approaching her motorcycle. Her eyes closed and she slugged her bag in the basket in the back of the seat. Last month, Mr. Hailaway's wife went missing and in horror, he rushed over to Claire and accused her of kidnapping his wife. It took long hours of endless argument to finally prove to the man that it was not Claire that stole his wife. In fact, Claire was one of the few people that helped send out reports for a search party.

They ended the search parties last week, much to both of their dismays. The police said that it was too much of a 'wild goose chase', and that they would never find her in a large city like this one with no leads. His wife was never found. At the memory, Claire closed her eyes got onto the motorcycle, and set the keys in. Taking one last glance at Hailaway's apartment, she sighed. It wasn't her place to nurse the old man into sanity again, she'd spent enough time doing that in Raccoon City with Sherry.

...Who also went missing. The thought irked her; she hadn't seen Sherry since the outbreak. Over those few hours she grew to love that girl like a sister-the fact that she couldn't get in contact with Sherry frustrated her... it was all because she didn't stick around to assist Leon in finding her a real home. By now, she was positive the government had her in lockdown, that or Sherry was dead in a ditch somewhere... Claire revved up the motorcycle, aggravated that she didn't know.

Claire kicked up the stand and started backing it up manually. Stupid Leon, and his trust in the government-and then stupidly running off to join it! He should have been a BSAA Member with her brother Chris; he could've been more helpful that way.

She felt sorry for Travis, she really did. But Claire was always giving. Sherry, Terrasave, Rani...Rockfort Island. She shook her head and started to pull out of the parking lot. As much as she loved to take care of people, she was old and tired, and wanted to be selfish for awhile. For Christ sake, the last time she really dated someone was before the Raccoon City incident. She had tried to date people a few times after, but every time she'd ruin it because she couldn't have someone that didn't understand why she carried a GUN in her back pocket wherever she went. To add icing to her cake of life, she was almost thirty-one.

"I shouldn't be thinking about the downs in my life right now. I should focus on the good things." She spoke out loud, but it was in a whisper as she drove past a car. "Like…going back to college and being around a bunch of no-good teenagers..." She slammed on the breaks, touching the rear end of one car at a red light.

She gasped and looked ahead. The sun was bright, and she heard the car yelling at her. "Or maybe just concentrate on the road…"

Claire pulled into a parking lot of the college with a pink ticket in her hand. No one was around campus.

She was late on her first day.

With a loud sigh Claire grabbed her helmet and attached it to her bike so it wouldn't get stolen and then flicked her glasses off and attached them to her shirt.

"Great, this is just great!" She yelled in frustration, taking her bag from the bike and then started up toward the school, she ran up a flight of stairs and directly into the hallways. To her joy, thank heaven oh mighty, there were still kids in the hallways. She inhaled. She forgot—this was college, being on time didn't really matter anymore.

Claire bit her lip as she started down; a few people stared at her in her Red vest, red boots and long Jeans. Most girls there wore spaghetti straps with shorts, or tight jeans with baggy sweat shirts. She was about the only one wearing…well, clothes that were showing just the right amount of skin. Claire gulped—To top it off they all looked so young, and she was probably already getting wrinkles. She rubbed her head and then smiled the best she could.

This was college, her looks don't matter—they only mattered in high school…but when she was in high school this was the look! Where was a wall when she needed to hit her head on one, she was so fr—

"Claire?" a shrill voice cut Claire's thoughts off. Claire didn't turn at first, too frustrated with her appearance to even give a hoot about anyone else.

"Claire! Oh my god it is you!" This caught Claire's attention and she turned, her face paled.

"What are YOU doing here?" Ashley Graham asked with a snarl. Claire smiled at her, clenching her fists.

There were thousands of colleges in the world…. And she got stuck in the one with the presidents annoying, fucking, daughter.

**Authors Note: **I think I like this edit, it's by far one of the best I've done without taking too much out of a chapter. Sorry Guys. I removed the "parking lot" scene from this chapter…because not ONLY was it written poorly, it was also pretty random and seemed like a poor transition of "I CAN DO THIS!" so I kind of…yeah… Fixed it? Hahah. Hope you like the remake—Next chapter will come out after I update "Behind Blue Eyes" :)


	2. Chapter 2

_Focus isn't an instinct, it's the hard part of a decision that has to be repeated._

Claire shook her head at Ashley, but mustered the best smile she could give the president's daughter.

"Hey, Graham, how are you?" Claire asked, without getting closer to the girl as normal friends would to embrace each other. Both of them stood planted in their spots with equally tormented looks on their faces.

Actually, to be honest, Claire had no _real _reason to dislike Ashley, aside from the stories Leon would write to her about how much Ashley was useless while facing tribulation. In fact, she'd often throw huge fits over nothing just to see Leon come to her rescue. Claire's personal favorite was the story of how Ashley woke Leon up in the middle of the night to squish a spider in the bathroom and she was practically nude with how little pajama's she was wearing. That poor Leon, all the girls just wanted to impress him. Claire popped out her hand to shake the hand of the lady who can't even kill a spider, and Ashley flinched to shake Claire's.

"I'm doing fine, I've only seen you once, and what was it? Last year, the year before? It was at that party we threw for Leon's promotion or something like that. I can't remember." Ashley's voice was a little to pitch for Claire's ears, so she narrowed her eyes in defense, and gave a crooked smile. Ashley did her best not to snarl, and remained lady like. "What are you doing here, Claire? Aren't you a little old to be starting college?" That was just bitter, because Ashley was working on her Masters degree in business and law, while Claire-

Claire was thirty one and still getting help from her brother to pay rent. To say the least, Claire wasn't too happy. Just because she got drunk at that party, pulled out a gun and started shooting bottles in the middle of a bar proved nothing of her wonderful personality... And then there was the tap dancing and the singing...and the liquor buying for the president and then the probation and embarrassment she got for Ashley from her father... Then there was the newspaper... Anyways, that was two years ago, Claire changed... She did.

"Well," Claire bit her tongue; she didn't want to insult the president's daughter. "I'm sorry I was too busy saving people's lives and trying to better the world to get mixed up in trivial matters of my own. I mean, I had to work to get money for college, it's not like my Dad's paying for everything."

Claire was sure that one hit the spot, because Ashley flinched her hand out of Claire's and gave her a nod.

"Well, it's good to see you haven't changed." She said courtly before pushing past Claire. Claire pumped her arm quietly behind the girls back and then turned with a confident smile back toward the crowd that watched them talk.

"Damn it..." She sighed loudly; she was talking to the president's daughter, after all. In this school Ashley was like a star, or something. So the looks were the understatement of the year. Claire did her best to smile at all the wandering eyes, and then jolted for her literature class.

Although she was late, no one seemed to notice, so she climbed to the top of the class, and took a seat away from everyone else. Silently, she spent the next few hours in there, when the teacher asked questions, she didn't answer, when he lectured, she didn't listen. The class went along with that until she finally slipped into a dreamless sleep. By the time Claire woke up, it was already twelve and class was over. She stretched and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't remember a thing that the teacher said, but then again. The teacher had a strong western accent, and terrible, terrible handwriting. It was like watching Tom and Jerry, but with a black screen covering their actions. The only thing anyone could hear is the crashing and yelling.

Claire pulled her bag over her shoulder as the rest of the class stood. She rubbed her eyes and broke out another yawn. The class room was built on stairs and she got the one on the top, so she would be looked at less and called on less. Maybe she should have considered the fact that she couldn't hear the teacher from up here though. Well, there was always tomorrow. Claire wandered down the steps before anyone else-everyone else seemed so into the lesson. So much, that Claire felt, almost rude for getting up so quickly. But then again, everyone in here had a chatting buddy except for her.

The teacher watched as Claire climbed down the stairs and smiled at her.

"Did you enjoy the lesson?" He asked while sitting back down. Claire only faked a smile and looked around, the rest of the students were getting ready to leave now. Claire stepped toward the desk.

"Yeah… I really like learning about..." she stopped, looked at the board and then back to the teacher. "The Fundamentals of English, it's interesting." She said trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. The teacher didn't seem impressed though.

"I saw you sleeping; you don't have to lie about it." Crap.

"Yeah... sorry about that, first day back to school in like ten years, not used to being in class." She told him honestly while giving a genuine smile. The teacher seemed pleased.

"Well my name is Mr. Travis, if you didn't catch that. I'm a new teacher as well, so let's try to get a long." He stuck out his hand and Claire shook it tiredly.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Travis, I'm Claire Redfield." She told him before stepping away and getting ready to leave the class. "See you tomorrow!" She added and then fell into line as the students piled out.

Claire snorted, in an off kind of way as she headed toward her writing class, Travis. That'd be really easy to remember! It's like she was being haunted by Travis-what was next a teacher named Sherry?!

It took Claire ten minutes to get to her writing class, no thanks to being lost, but when she entered the room, there were only about five people there, as opposed to the thirty or so that was in her literature class. She raised her eyebrows. Four of the people sat bunched up talking about random subjects-they were pretty fit, looked decently young, they probably all graduated from the same high school. Claire, not liking the idea of being a loner again, moved to the backseat that had a normal looking girl sitting there, except her gaze was on the group of people.

"Hi, my name is Claire Redfield. Can I sit here?" She asked and the girl who looked up with beaming green eyes. Her hair was long and black and her skin was tan.

"Go ahead." She said while moving her bag so that Claire could pull a seat out, which she did happily and set her bag down before sitting. The female didn't seem like one for conversation because she looked back at the foursome that seemed so happy. Nervously, Claire tried to spark a conversation.

"So how long have you been here?" She asked hesitantly.

"Three years." She said simply, never tearing her eyes away from the foursome. Claire bit her lip and then sighed. She placed her elbows on the desk and looked with despair at the door. It was going to be a long semester.

Five minutes or so clicked by before a blond haired, middle aged teacher in a black suit walked in. Her hair was cut below her shoulders. Claire's eyes grew wide.

No. Fucking. Way. The lady looked like Annette. An older, none dead version, but she looked just like Mrs. Birkin. Instinctively Claire reached for the gun in her bag, and tried to duck away. She was the only one that watched the teacher step into the class room. Everyone else was busy in their own world. Claire's heartbeat raced, only looking at the back of the lady. She pulled the gun up into her lap, glancing at the girl who was sitting next to her, lucky enough, she didn't even glance at Claire.

Claire seethed with agony and tucked the gun neatly into the bend of her leg, ready to defend herself if this crazy Annette look alike tried anything. That was until she turned around after writing her name on the board. Claire could see it now and released a sigh she was holding in.

"My name Mrs. Ashcroft, and I'll be your teacher for this semester. The people in this class are probably the ones..." She trailed off, because when she spoke the group didn't break up their little conversation, so she slammed down a marker, and they hushed instantly, even the girl who stared longingly at the foursome looked at Mrs. Ashcroft.

"I do not intend to babysit children!" She yelled looking at the foursome, a wave of relief crossed over Claire, "If you're in my class, I expect you to pay attention when I speak, there are five of you, but I'm sad to say some of you will change out of this class as the year progresses because I do NOT tolerate failures."

She straightened out her suit, and then dusted it. "I will teach you the best foundations to write a story on. And, spending four years in Journalism, the object I learned best to write with is..." She picked up a marker midsentence and started to write on the board.

"Write what you know." she added and then set the marker down. "Don't write what you think you know, write your thoughts and things that you've observed throughout a situation. If you try to bullshit me, I will quiz you. I don't expect to be given an entire essay on how you felt when your dog died. We're not in high school anymore children, and if I'm going to teach you how to be a writer, I intend to do it successfully." Ashcroft was practically barking at the class, and even though the five other people in the class seemed angry, Claire was actually interested in the teacher's instruction.

Claire put the gun in the cubby under the desk, and then grabbed a notebook out of her bag and began writing the information that Mrs. Ashcroft threw at her. She learned that she was in Journalism for some time in a city, but didn't say where and learned a lot in her experience there. She stopped journalism after leaving that city, and went to get a master in English so she could help better the world through writing.

Toward the end of class, the girl that sat next to Claire, and two of the once foursome had gotten up and left the class for who knew what reason, they probably didn't agree on the measure that Mrs. Ashcroft was teaching.

By the end of the class Claire had two pages full of notes and a huge smile on her face. There were only two people left in the class by the end of the lesson and the one that formally sat with the foursome groggily got up and left without a word. Claire on the other hand got up, grabbed her bag and rushed to the teacher with a smile.

"Ma'am. That was the best lesson I think I've ever heard, thank you!" Claire said with an enthused smile, but the teacher just blinked.

"I don't want your ass kissing; now get out of my class." Claire flinched up and then blinked-she couldn't force herself to say another word because the teacher just turned away and walked to the window. Claire scoffed.

"Why are all the cool teachers always the rudest?" She growled as she left the class room. She checked her list of classes. She only had three this semester, and they were all fundamental classes except for her minor in psychology. Just reading the name, Claire felt confused already. The study of the human mind... She wandered in the halls until she found the classroom. The teacher had large glasses, a brown suit, and looked like he was 200 years old. Claire forced a smile and greeted the teacher before taking a seat in the front of the class. The back row was filled up. She sighed and rested her shoulders on the desk. Last class of the day.

To say the least she wasn't interested in the subject at all. Well, the way the teacher taught it. He sat in front of the class, and spoke in a very, very quiet manner. He looked like he should be retired already. Claire looked around the class room and saw that everyone in the class was passing out with her. She sighed and dropped her head onto her arms, and drifted off into a slumber.

When she woke up it was because her teacher was tapping her shoulder, asking for her to wake up. Claire shrugged him off at first, and wrapped her hands over her head. The teacher shook her this time, and her reflexes threw her up and out of her chair. Her eyes snapped open and she gasped at the teacher. She shook her head, at first not comprehending where she was. The teacher smiled sweetly at her and walked over to give her a hand up. Claire only looked at it with her eyes squinted.

"..oh." She thought and stood up by taking his hand which was firmer then she thought it would be. "I'm sorry. Just been tired today." She added and dusted off the back of her jeans. Her teacher shook his head and slunk back to his chair and sat down limply.

"It's alright. I should have woken you earlier, but I didn't realize there was another student in the class until I looked away from my books." He said while taking out a tissue and holding it out to Claire who was picking up her bag. She looked warily at the tissue and then at him. He pointed to his cheek and she smiled sheepishly.

"Oh," Was all she could seem to say in front of the man while she took the tissue and wiped the drool off of her mouth. "Thank you." She added and steadied the pack on her shoulder. He didn't say anything else to her, only looked back at his books and gave a deep sigh. Claire started to say something else, but then decided against it. She glanced at the board and then smiled.

"See you tomorrow Mr. Clifton!" She told him and then rushed out of the classroom. Students were no longer in the hallway and it was pretty much quiet except for the janitor vacuuming the hallways in the distance. Claire shook her head and kept sighing until she got to the exit.

"I made a real ass out of myself today; I'll make it better tomorrow." She mumbled and rubbed her neck. _Chris is going to be pissed…_ before pushing the door open and rushing down the steps at the front of the building. There were still a few cars parked in the lot, not near as many as there had been, though. Quickly Claire made for her Motorcycle, she didn't like being away from it too long. Motorcycles were easier to steal then people would think, and this one was almost a classic. It was nearly an exact replica of the one she had in Raccoon city. She almost hugged it after leaving the college but instead just slugs her bag into the basket and then got onto it.

"Home here I come..." She groaned and then started to back it up.

In the glimmer of the side mirrors as she put her helmet on she saw the glint of a black mustang. She narrowed her eyes, clicking her tongue onto her teeth gently and curled her lips. What she saw was a fairly tall, built, blonde man letting Ashley into the vehicle. From her moving mouth, she was either complaining, or talking his ear off.

Claire snorted. That poor handsome bastard.

...Handsome, oh shit, it was Leon. Claire quickly took her helmet off, and turned around to see the Mustang pulling out of the parking lot. Sadly, Claire heaved a sigh and looked at the college. It figures, she finally had the chance to meet him without zombies attacking, and he's gone before she gets a word in. Claire put her helmet back on and drove off.

In the distance a gun was fired.

**Author's note: **Yes, this will be about the only chapter that goes into detail about Claire's school life. Please don't ask. I was just as bored as you were. 

I. Am. Not. An. Ashley. Hater.

Promise to tell you guys the reason Ashley is so nasty later.. kbai


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_It's best to throw the rule book out. Rules don't apply here._

Out of all the places that Leon thought he'd see the youngest Redfield, it was not at the same college he was deported to pick the president's daughter at. In fact, he even lingered to stare at her as she climbed down the stairs grumbling to herself. There was something odd about seeing her on a normal circumstance, it just didn't feel right, it wasn't...normal?

"Leon! Hello, we have to go; I have a curfew again since those last few kidnappings. Daddy wants me home at eleven." She waved her hand in front of Leon's face, and he snapped out of his trance. A dazzling, forced smile stamped onto his face and he took one more glance at the Redfield before scoffing.

"Calm down Ashley, You're safe with me, remember. I was trained to protect and serve..." he added cool, sarcastically-because everyone knew how well his last 'protect and serve' mission went. Ashley started to ramble on further about how her teacher was boring, and although Leon at least wanted to speak to Claire, he walked left, and got into the car to drive Ashley home. His job still came first.

Much to his surprise though, when he went to pull out of the parking lot he could see claire looking awkwardly at the car through the review mirror. He chuckled and then turned his sight to the obstacles ahead. Ashley noticed the pause in his sarcastic remarks and looked behind her to see what he was staring at.

"Oh yeah, That Redfield girl is coming here now. I don't even know why. She's gotten such a later start! I do hope things go good for her.. but-"

"That was one time. You caught her right when Terrasave fired her; you couldn't have expected her to be completely level headed in that situation." Leon defended while stopping at a light. He leaned his left arm on the door and heard Ashley huff next to him.

"But dancing on the countertops. REALLY?" Thoughtfully Ashley paused. "And then there was telling my daddy off, it's lucky she knew you or she could have gone to prison. Does she know she almost cost you your promotion?" Ashley nagged at him while Leon simply sighed.

"I haven't spoken to her since then. We don't talk often."

Ashley hung her head back. "That's so weird-weren't you guys like the "Raccoon City Survivors"?" She looked at Leon and narrowed her eyes, poking him in the arm as he turned onto the main road.

"Thought Survivors were supposed to be tight? Look at how Jill and Chris are! Rebecca and that Billy guy... and that other guy, the one with the blonde hair-oh yeah! He's still a miserable government agent!" She barked at Leon who only gave her a dry laugh.

"I'm glad you're not fawning over me anymore Ashley, but I'd appreciate it if you'd respect my personal life a little more... it's." He narrowed his eyes. "It's a bit more complicated than that..."

"Ugh..." Ashley mumbled and looked out the window of the car, she pouted her lips and then slowly glanced at Leon. "How about I set you guys on a coffee date tomorrow? After school, a noon day get together. I'm sure you both have a lot to talk about!" She clasped her hands and sat up in her seat.

"You'd enjoy it! You'd finally have someone to reminisce of the old zombie days with! I'm sure, by the way she looked at the car as we drove away she'd enjoy it too..." She added and looked away skeptically. Leon shook his head.

"I was given orders to watch you; I can't be caught off my job." He said tiredly, Ashley waved him off.

"I'll just go sit in a booth on the other side of the dinner or something, if that makes you feel better."

"So accepting of the idea..." Leon gave her a sly look, she shrugged.

"Got to have something to gossip about!" she sang as they pulled into a smaller house. Leon parked the car and took the keys out. Ashley grabbed Leon.

"Think about it!" The president's daughter jumped out of the car before he even turned the lights off.

Leon exhaled and looked at the president's daughter walk into the small state that her dad placed in her in so she could have a normal college life. Leon rubbed his face and then felt the bullet scar that was on his chest. Maybe he was scared that he and Claire wouldn't have anything to talk about on a normal basis if they weren't drunk as all hell. He flinched, got out of his car, and then followed Ashley inside of the house.

Alyssa Ashcroft sat tiredly at her desk, tiredly editing her latest book. Tomorrow her class would be three times larger because the better students will be more willing to be in her class. She never looked forward to the starting semesters; no one ever took school seriously. She looked past her book for a moment, and tilted her head. She stared at the spot where Claire was seated before and frowned.

"Redfield… a survivor of Raccoon City…" She rubs her face, and smiles. "I guess I shouldn't have been so cold." Alyssa reaches her hand over her pile of papers and pops a picture frame up. It was a picture of her, Cindy, Mark, Jim, and the rest of the Raccoon City survivors that weren't credited for living. None of them spoke about it aside from Yoko who was assisting at the BSAA… Everyone else moved on with a fairly normal life.

Although, normal is the understatement of the year. Alyssa still had problems looking at people and not thinking that they would die or try to eat her, that's something that they all shared… and it was also reason was why she and Jim shortly broke up after the events at Raccoon City. The only relationship that lasted from that hell hole was Cindy and Kevin. All in its own it was like a soap opera. Alyssa laughed to herself, and then flipped the frame back down. She twisted a pen in her hand and then kicked out of her seat.

"Someday, I ought to call those clowns.. Maybe I'll have a sit down with Claire tomorrow and we'll talk about how we survived our own hells.. It's been so long since I've spoken about Raccoon City" She spoke out loud as she turned to start erasing the board she wrote on previously. She hummed gently until the cocking of a gun stopped her.

…and Alyssa knew that sound all too well. She laughed, turned, and then stared at her killer. Fear crossed her face like a machete. She froze.

"You..?"

The bullet whizzed through the air, cutting off Alyssa midsentence and plowing through her forehead. Instant death. Alyssa could still see the figure in the distance, but the darkness came so fast and so swift that she didn't have the time to brace herself for the damage.

At this time, Claire was barely getting home. She removed her helmet from her head and rubbed her eyes. She sneezed, and looked back at the way she came. Someone must be talking about her. She got off her bike, and moved up the stairs quietly... Mr. Hailaway didn't come out to bother her, and she wasn't one to complain…

When she walked into her musty apartment, she flicked the lights on, locked each of the three deadbolts, and then wandered into her living room where she plopped onto the couch and curled up next to a pillow.

It was odd, living by herself. She moved out so that she wouldn't be bothering Chris and Jill since that Africa incident but man, living alone was well—lonely. She sighed, grabbed the remote for her television and instead of studying, turned the TV on and started watching cartoons.

She hated being home alone; even through all of her zombie fights, she was still scared that someone would try to break in and rob or kill her. Immature, but very true. Claire grunted, rubbed her face and then pressed the pillow against it. This was exactly how her life was before the Raccoon City incident, she was just younger.

"Shut up brain!"

Before long, she was out.

**Author's Note: **For those of you that /don't/ know. Alyssa Ashcroft is a playable character in the Resident Evil: Out Break series for the Playstation 2. In the Resident evil 2 book, Claire is mentioned to possibly have gone to school for literature—so I tried to hang close to that… Who else to teach her but Alyssa? Too bad she got shot… You'll find out why, later. :)


End file.
